The Team

The Rt Hon Lord Hague of Richmond, William Hague

The Rt Hon Lord Hague of Richmond, William Hague, Chairman of The Royal Foundation, served for 26 years in the British House of Commons until he stood down in 2015. In that time, he served in many senior roles, including Leader of the House of Commons, but is best known as the Leader of the Conservative party, 1997-2001, and First Secretary of State and Foreign Secretary, 2010-2014. He is now a member of the House of Lords and pursues a wide range of business and charitable activities. He is also a well-known writer, as a weekly columnist of The Times and a best-selling author of historical biographies. He has a longstanding relationship with The Royal Foundation, being Chair of The United for Wildlife Taskforces since 2014.

Alice Webb

Alice Webb is the Chief Executive Officer of Eagle Rock Entertainment, a division of Universal Music Group. Eagle Rock Entertainment is the world’s leading producer and distributor of music programming for broadcast, DVD, Blu-Ray, TV and Digital Media. Alice joined in May 2020 from the BBC where she spent 15 years working across a number of departments. From 2011 to 2014, Alice was Chief Operating Officer of BBC North where she successfully orchestrated the biggest BBC move outside of London when key BBC departments including Sport, BBC Children's, 5 live and BBC Learning moved to Salford. Around 35,000 hours of output a year across TV, Radio and the Red Button are now made in the North, with 3,000 staff based at MediaCityUK. She was also Director of BBC North from May 2016 – May 2019. Alice went on to lead all the BBC’s output and activity for Under 16’s – including CBeebies and CBBC, the most watched and loved children’s channels in the UK. Alice lead the BBC’s Education department too – with a particular focus on early years development. In her most recent role as Director of the Children’s and Education department, Alice led the launch of the BBC’s hugely successful Bitesize Daily which is supporting millions of children across the country during the Coronavirus pandemic. Alice is a Governor of University of Manchester, and lives in the north west with her family.

Charles Mindenhall

Charles Mindenhall is Co-Founder of Blenheim Chalcot, the UK’s leading digital venture builder. The Blenheim Chalcot portfolio currently consists of 20 companies in multiple sectors, with combined group sales in excess of £350m per annum and employing more than 3,000 people. Blenheim Chalcot traces its roots back to netdecisions which Charles and his business partner Manoj Badale founded back in 1998. Charles is a trustee of Onside Youth Zones, a charity providing state-of-the-art youth centres in deprived areas of the country, and chair of Onside in London, where they are currently rolling out 4 Youth Zones in the capital. Charles is also a trustee of the Royal Foundation of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Bridges Impact Foundation, Mental Health Innovations and Charity Digital Trust. Charles has an MA in Philosophy and Psychology from Christ Church, Oxford University, and was formerly at Monitor Company.

Claire Wills

Claire Wills is a senior partner at international law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and managing partner of its London office. She joined Freshfields in 1992, becoming a partner in May 2001. Claire is also a member of the Arnold Foundation Board, established by Rugby School in 2003.

Hannah Cockburn-Logie

Hannah Cockburn-Logie is a senior British diplomat with twenty years of experience in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. She has spent much of her career representing the UK overseas with postings to Slovenia, India and most recently Brussels, where she was the Counsellor for political and communications at UKMis (UK Mission to the EU). In India, she was Head of Political and Bilateral Affairs, based at the British High Commission in New Delhi. Hannah was awarded an OBE in 2017 for services to the UK-India relationship and was awarded an MVO in 2008.

Jean-Christophe Gray

Jean-Christophe Gray CBE is Private Secretary to His Royal Highness The Duke of Cambridge. He previously worked at HM Treasury since 2002 in a variety of roles, including: Director, Public Services (2016-2020); Press Secretary to two Chancellors of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling and George Osborne (2009-11); and Private Secretary to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown (2004-06). He was the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman in No10 Downing Street 2012-2015, and has most recently (2020-2021) been seconded to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG). Prior to joining the Civil Service, he worked for Procter & Gamble and was briefly a parliamentary assistant to then MP for Wimbledon. He read history at the University of Oxford, and has a MSc in European Politics & Policy from the London School of Economics.

Lady Pinsent

Demetra Pinsent is the CEO of British beauty brand Charlotte Tilbury, a Non-Executive Director of Belmond Ltd and a Trustee of The Royal Foundation. Prior to this, she was a Partner at McKinsey & Company where she co-led the European Luxury Goods Practice and advised leading global retailers and consumer businesses. She has also served as an Advisory Board Member for Walpole, the British luxury goods association and Aston Martin.

Ron Kalifa

Ron Kalifa is Chairman of Network International; a FTSE company and Chairman of FutureLearn. He is a Non-Executive Director of the Court of Directors to the Bank of England, the England & Wales Cricket Board and a member of the Council of Imperial College, London. Ron was invited to lead an independent Fintech Strategic Review for the UK at the request of the Chancellor of the Exchequer. The Report was published in February 2021. Additionally, Ron is a member of the Build Back Better Business Council which is co-chaired by the Prime Minister and the Chancellor and a member of the Government’s Digital Economy Council. Ron is also an Operating Partner for Advent International. Previously, Ron led led Worldpay for over 10 years as CEO including its divestment into private equity ownership in 2010. He served as Vice Chairman thereafter, remaining as an Executive director until February 2020.

Simon Patterson

Simon Patterson is a Managing Director of Silver Lake, the global leader in technology investing. He is currently a board member of Dell Technologies, Cegid and FlixBus, and previously served on the boards of Intelsat, Skype, MultiPlan and Gerson Lehrman Group. He is also a Trustee of the Natural History Museum in London and a Non-Executive Director of Tesco plc.

Zeinab Badawi

Zeinab Badawi is an award-winning broadcast journalist whose work includes HardTalk and Global Questions for the BBC as well as the landmark History of Africa series. Ms Badawi is Chair of the Royal African Society and has worked closely with Prince William in his capacity as Patron of the Society.

Jason Knauf

Jason Knauf became CEO of The Royal Foundation of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in September 2019, following over four years as Communications Director at Kensington Palace. Immediately before joining The Royal Household he was Director of Corporate Affairs at the Royal Bank of Scotland with responsibility for the bank’s strategy across media relations, public affairs, sustainability, and digital communications. Prior to this  Jason served as financial services spokesman at HM Treasury and was Press Secretary to the Financial Services Secretary, Lord Myners following the 2008 financial crisis. He began his career in New Zealand, where he spent four years as a Press Secretary, Speechwriter, and Communications Advisor to government ministers, including then Prime Minister Helen Clark. Jason is a graduate of Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. He obtained his Masters in Politics and Communication from the London School of Economics.